


In Which the Dads Think Shiro is a Kit

by moretrash



Series: Dads of Marmora [24]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Established Relationship, Matt is a Good Boyfriend, Nests, Nightmares, Spooning, Thace is confused, kolivan is a good dad, the "Shiro is 6" joke will never not be funny to me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 08:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14564562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moretrash/pseuds/moretrash
Summary: The Galra dads overhear a conversation and get very confused. Needless to say, Shiro has a lot to get used to, because Keith can't clear up this one.





	In Which the Dads Think Shiro is a Kit

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of people have suggested that I do the Dads freaking out about the "Shiro is 6" joke and this was the result

Visits to the castle were becoming fairly common for Kolivan and his pack. Keith was always excited to see him boyfriend Lance, and his pack would discuss strategy with Allura and Shiro. 

But, he was concerned about Shiro. The black paladin was under too much stress for anyone to be under, in Kolivan’s opinion. He was stressed a fair amount of the time, of course, being the leader of the Blade of Marmora was a very good reason for that. But he had never been as stressed as Shiro always looked. He always knew when to draw the line and relax, even before he had met Antok. Now, Antok was basically the pack member in charge of making sure everyone relaxed and kept up with their needs. Kolivan wondered if Shiro had anyone like that for him. 

He considered, briefly, approaching Shiro about the subject, but decided against it. Shiro was very adamant about his self-sufficiency, and hardly ever asked for help with things. Kolivan didn’t want to accidentally offend Shiro if he could help it.

Every time Shiro had a nightmare, though, it broke his heart a bit. Shiro always sounded so upset, and his crying was most likely only audible to his more enhanced hearing, but they were heartbreaking. Every time he heard Shiro have a nightmare, he wanted to go offer comfort. But he knew that the most likely scenario was that Shiro’s nightmare had been about his time in Galra captivity, and seeing a Galra in his panicked, half-asleep state would probably panic Shiro even more. 

But still, he couldn’t help but feel bad about not finding a way to help. 

Especially when he heard a certain conversation between all of the paladins.

-

“Shiro, did you just refer to the hydration pack as ‘space juice boxes’?” Pidge questioned incredulously, holding one of the said packets out of Shiro’s reach until they got an answer. Shiro blushed and drew his shoulders up.

“Maybe. Technically, that’s what they are, though.” Shiro said, his voice soft. He didn’t sound annoyed, which let Kolivan know that this was probably a common conversation.

“Yeah, Pidge, Shiro’s right in this one. But don’t tease the poor man, he’s only six.” Keith said jokingly. Shiro shot Keith a glare, but there was no real heat behind it. Keith smiled cheekily from where he had coerced Kolivan into teaching him how to braid hair. Kolivan’s hair was now a tangled mess, but he could easily detangle it. He remembered having the same result the first time he had tried to braid as a child, he understood how difficult it was at first. 

“Keith’s right. He still sits criss-cross applesauce.” Lance said. Pidge snorted from where they were trying to steal a taste of the cookie dough Hunk was making. It wasn’t successful, Hunk had become very talented at keeping people’s (see: Lance’s) fingers out of the raw dough.

“I think Lance is the six year old for actually saying criss-cross applesauce.” They said. Lance gasped dramatically, laying across Keith’s lap and draping an arm over his eyes in an exaggerated gesture.

“Keith, can you believe this? That was coming from the same person who said ‘uh-oh spaghettios’ when they dropped something yesterday!” Lance said. Keith giggled and shook his head, unraveling an unsuccessful braid before trying again.

Thace had been listening closely to the conversation. It was a lazy day for the paladins, so they were having some leisure time. But Thace was put off by the comment about Shiro’s age. He knew that six was young for humans, but at six, a Galra kit would not have even left their pack nest in most cases. So, sue him for being more than a little distressed at the statement. 

-

Later that night, Kolivan was making his normal round around the castle, making sure everyone went to sleep. It was common now that they had proven themselves to be trustworthy. The paladins were basically unofficial members of his pack, of course he wanted to make sure they got enough sleep. Lance had settled down in the nest, cuddling with Keith, as he had taken to doing once he was told it was okay. Kolivan was sure Hunk would join them before the morning, because Kolivan often caught him stress-baking in the night (the first time he caught Hunk stress-baking, the cookies and sweets all over the kitchen most mornings suddenly made so much sense), and would take him back to the nest to sleep a bit longer.

He was surprised, though, to find Shiro in the hallway. He knew that the black paladin had a bad habit of staying up until the ungodly hours of the morning and barely sleeping, but Shiro typically remained in his room to avoid waking anyone on accident. Kolivan knew for a fact that the other paladins would do anything for Shiro to take care of himself, to come to someone if he needed to talk. It confused Kolivan that Shiro seemed to be under the impression that he had to be fearless and brave because he was the leader, which was entirely untrue. Kolivan himself had cried in front of marmorites that weren’t his pack plenty of times, and they never once judged him for it, for they knew that Kolivan was really the same as them, had the same emotions and needs as any one of them. He wondered, briefly, if it was a human trait to act closed off and fearless when you were a leader. 

“Shiro?” He called out, confused and more than a bit worried, that emotion only growing when he heard a choked-off sob from Shiro. He walked closer, making sure to make his footfalls audible just in case Shiro was still caught in the clutches of a nightmare, not recognizing that Kolivan was actually a friend, not a prison guard. He didn’t want to accidentally startle the man.

“Are you alright?” Kolivan asked, crouching down close to Shiro. Not so close that he was crowding the man’s personal space, but close enough to hear a response. Shiro was curled up loosely against the wall, hugging his knees. Tears streaked down his cheeks, leaving trails only slightly visible in the dim light that illuminated the hallways, intended to guide the way if someone were to walk down them at night. Shiro glanced up at Kolivan, biting his lip. He must decide that Kolivan would be able to see straight through his lie, because he shook his head, his eyes wide and fearful. Kolivan felt his heart shatter at the look, once again reminded of just how young the paladins were, even by human standards.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Kolivan asked, setting a hand on Shiro’s knee. It was firm enough to offer a small comfort, but loose enough that Shiro can easily pull away if he didn’t want to be touched. Shiro nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Kolivan nodded in understanding.

“Would you be okay with a hug?” Kolivan asked. It was, he had learned, the preferred comfort method of the paladins. As Keith predicted, they hadn’t much appreciated the grooming that would be soothing to any Galra. Shiro tensed and shook his head. Kolivan smiled a bit.

“That’s okay, you don’t have to do that then. Do you want to talk about your nightmare?” Kolivan asked. Another head shake. Kolivan thought for moment, considering where to take the conversation.

“Would you like me to fetch anyone in particular?” Kolivan asked. He knew that it was often better to have someone you felt comfortable around, safe around, after a nightmare. Shiro thought for a moment before responding.

“Can you see if Matt’s awake? Don’t… don’t wake him if he’s asleep, please.” Shiro said. Kolivan nodded, but he already knew he would never adhere to that request. He had seen how readily available Matt always was when it came to Shiro. Shiro felt comfortable and safe around Matt, so Matt never turned down Shiro’s requests, silly as they may be. 

Kolivan made his way through the hallways until he came across the rebel’s room, raising a hand and rapping several times on the cool metal. It wasn’t long before a groggy, slightly irritated Matt to open the door, raising an eyebrow to Kolivan questioningly. 

“Shiro had a nightmare and requested your presence. He appears to be mostly calm, most likely more shaken up and upset rather than frightened at this point.” Kolivan said. Matt’s eyes widened and he followed Kolivan to where Shiro was sitting, crouching down in front of him.   
Kolivan chose to take his leave then, making sure to tell Matt that he and Shiro were welcome in the nest if they so desired. The nest was big enough now, since it had been moved to the lounge to accommodate the paladins that regularly appeared in the nest as well. He settled down in the nest, hugging Antok from behind as he fell into sleep.

-

Kolivan was awoken soon after by two hushed voices. He was sure that no one else would have woken up, he just had good hearing. That, combined with being a light sleeper, made it so he woke up to the slightest sound.

“Shiro, are you scared of Antok?” Matt whispered gently, trying to coax Shiro into sitting down in the nest, unable to keep a soft laugh at bay. Shiro huffed and blushed, looking away.

“Don’t laugh at me. He’s big and intimidating.” Shiro grumbled softly. Matt smiled gently and kissed Shiro’s cheek.

“Don’t worry babe, I understand. But Antok is just a giant teddy bear, the most he’ll do to us outside of training is accidentally squeeze us too hard when he hugs us.” Matt said. “That, or accidentally hit us with his tail if he gets too excited.” he added. Shiro slowly sat down, tense but clearly yearning to be a member of the pack. He already was, in everyone’s minds, but they knew it would take a bit of getting used to for Shiro to sleep comfortably in the nest.

“As far as I understand it, Antok’s tail is like Keith’s, its not prehensile and Antok doesn’t have a lot of control over it for the most part if he gets overly excited. Its like a more intense version of that time Keith got so excited that he smacked you with his tail.” Matt explained gently. He looked over when he saw Kolivan sit up. “Sorry, did we wake you up?” He asked. Shiro blushed, looking guilty. Kolivan shook his head and smiled.

“No, I am a light sleeper, do not worry.” he said. He grabbed a thick, warm blanket and draped it over the two, laying them down. “Get some sleep. It will do you no good if you are tired if there is an emergency tomorrow.” he said. Looking around, he could see that all of the paladins had arrived at some point. Hunk was sleeping like the dead, unknowing of the way Pidge was using him as a pillow. Or a bed, half of their body was laying on top of Hunk, the other half laying on the nest. Lance and Keith were cuddling together, and it seemed as though Lance was the little spoon that night. Keith and Lance tended to switch, though no one had any idea how they decided who was the big or little spoon. Was it based off of who had the worse day? Did they just decide right before bed? The world may never know. 

Kolivan reached forward and gently removed Pidge’s glasses, setting them on the nearby table, careful not to bend the delicate metal frames. He glanced over and found that Matt was already dead to the world, and Shiro looked to be halfway there, wrapped in Matt’s arms and having enough space to curl into him and hide himself if he felt he needed or wanted to. Kolivan hoped that they’d one day get to a point where Shiro didn’t feel apprehensive or scared around them, but he knew that it would be a long way away. After all, trauma from being a prisoner in a Galra prison didn’t just disappear. It never would, but Kolivan hoped they’d be able to make Shiro comfortable around them. 

-

When Thace woke up, he was greeted with whimpering. At first, he had no idea who it was coming from, but he quickly traced it to the lump that was trembling in Matt’s arms. Thace struggled for a moment to determine who it was, but he knew it was Shiro when he spotted a snow white tuft of hair.

He moved so that he was sitting by Shiro’s head, running his claws gently through the tuft of his hair and along the longer portions of the natural color of his hair, making a symphony of soft coos and purrs and rumbles in an attempt to soothe Shiro. His attempts seemed to be paying off, though, because Shiro’s trembling and whimpering ceased and he seemed to be slowly relaxing.

“Shh, kit, you are safe here. We will not hurt you, no matter what. Well, we may accidentally scratch you or bruise you too badly in training, but we will be gentle outside of that. Humans are very fragile, you see, we do not mean to harm you. It will take some trial and error, but I promise we are trying our best to avoid injury with you humans.” Thace said softly, smiling when he saw Shiro’s eyes flutter open part way through. Shiro gave a shy glance up at Thace, though he seemed completely calm. He also looked well-rested for once, which was good. 

“Good morning, kit. Did you sleep well last night?” Thace asked. Shiro’s face scrunched up in confusion, but he nodded, sitting up and rubbing the remnants of sleep from his eyes. 

“Why did you call me a kit?” Shiro asked. Thace tilted his head.

“Because you are a kit.” He said simply. Keith woke up and smiled, greeting Shiro and Thace. Shiro looked over at Keith.

“Can you explain why Thace is calling me a kit?” Shiro asked. Keith yawned and frowned.

“Shiro is an adult by human standards, Thace.” he said. Thace just looked even more confused.

“But you all said he was six?” He asked. Keith couldn’t help it as he started laughing a bit.

“No, that’s just a joke. A deca-pheobe on Earth isn’t exactly 365 days, its 365 and a quarter. So, once every four years, we add another day to our year to balance it out. Shiro just so happened to be born on that day. We joke that he’s six because the actual date of his birth has only passed six times, but he’s 25.” Keith explained. Thace just looked even more confused.

“But if his date of birth has only passed six times, then he is six.” Thace said, thoroughly confused. Keith snorted and patted Shiro’s arm apologetically.

“Sorry, Shiro, I think my pack is convinced you’re six.” He said. Shiro groaned, but he found that he actually found the whole situation hilarious.


End file.
